Truth? Or Dare?
by poembaa
Summary: Adding to the series. Jack and Emily and Amanda


After Ep 5 of S2

After her swim, Emily returned to the house. Wringing her hair, she stepped up on the porch to find Amanda there, still holding Carl. Amanda looks up at Emily and says "We have a huge problem" she shows Emily the folder which Mason left. Emily lifts her eyebrows at her and walks up to take the folder from her. She opens it and then sits down next to Amanda. Quickly, she thumbs through the papers and then puts them beside her. She looks at Amanda "Okay, you obviously had some time to think about it, any ideas?" Amanda looked at Emily reluctantly. "In fact, I do", she said, "You háve to talk to Jack, you have to tell him the truth. Before he finds out some other way." Amanda stared in Emily's eyes. To make her understand how heavy this weighed on her mind. Jack had been so kind to her, even after all her lies and scams. And now, Emily was right at first, his heart would break if he found out. But he would be devastated if he heard this shocking news by the mouth of, say, Mason Treadwell. Emily sighed and looked out over sea. "I have to think about that, please don't take action just now. I need a strategy first. Please." Emily took Amanda's hand "Can you promise me that?" Amanda slowly nodded, "Yes, off course, but you have to remember that I love him. Like you. And I need for him to be okay this time. Can you promise me you will take interest in his wellbeing? Not just yours, for this once?" Emily looked hurt, but Amanda knew she had to be clear with her. Revengy things had a way of taking over her normal thinking brain. And that should not be decisive, not now, not in matters of the heart. They, both of them, had deceived him too much for too long already. It really was time to come clean. Emily heard the serious tone in Amanda's voice. And she knew Amanda was right, but she needed time to think out a plan, like Takeda taught her. No rash decisions. "I am going to take a shower, I'll talk to you later."

Thoughts going through her mind. She was trying to make sense of them. Was there any way to make Mason forget he had this? Could she find leverage on him to keep him silent? Was there a way she could bride him? She found no solution for the long term, only quick fixes. Besides hoping he would get abducted by aliens off course. But no such luck.

Amanda and Emily spoke for quite some time. And Amanda insisted "My cover is blown, not yours. There is no need for you to leave town. But I cannot stay here." Emily knew what she implied. But could she, again take advantage of Amanda? Their fate seemed intertwined since they switched names. Off course, she could set up a new identity for Amanda. They did that once before, Emily could do that again for Amanda. But it seemed unfair Amanda had to run away yet again while Emily could go on, seemingly care free.

They decided Amanda was going to live elsewhere with baby Carl. Emily could get her set up with a new identity in a few days time. Amanda still had some money from Emily's first bribe. And Emily would wire her a similar amount in a few weeks time. The next problem they had to tackle was what to do with Jack. Tell him nothing, tell him the whole truth or just the half of it? Amanda was dead set on telling him everything. She thought he would understand. Emily was not that sure, how much lies can one man take?

Amanda had had enough of Emily and her lies. She wanted to tell Jack the truth, she knew she had to. And since she was leaving town in a day, there was no better time than the present. The Stowaway would open in a few hours. Amanda left baby Carl with Emily and told Emily she needed time to think. She was going to take a walk down the beach. Off course, she rounded the bend and took the road to town.

At the Stowaway Jack was cleaning the last things before opening. Finally, the season could start and he could start making money. He had a child to support now, a debt to pay because of Declan's foolishness and pay bills from last winter. The door opened and he looked up, just to see Amanda walking in. No Carl. He send her his crooked smile and kept polishing the bar. Amanda's heart stopped for a second. He was such a sexy man, but also kind and gentle. She hated having to bring him bad news. She walked up to him and hugged him. Lingering in his arms just a second longer, mentally saying goodbye. "Jack, can we sit down, I have to talk to you", she said. He looked up in her dark brown eyes and saw something serious and sad in those eyes. He instinctively cringed. "Let's go outside, I think I will need to feel the ocean wind on my face".

He leaned over the porch, Amanda touched his hand, he looked up and turned toward her. "Okay, spill your beans." Amanda took one deep breath "I understand this is hard for you to hear, but please hear me out."Jack shifted his weight from one foot to another, waiting for whatever drama she had in store for him. She began her story. "You know I was in juvi for a few years. When I was there, I befriended a girl my age. She had about the similar youth as I had, foster care and no contact with her parents. We became close and when I was released, she was the one who came and pick me up when none of my own family would take the time. "Amanda smiled when she remembered her own surprise "It turned out her family was notorious and she was having a hard time dealing with it. I am a little tougher than she is and we decided to switch names. I became her past and she got my future." Up until this point Jack, had looked a little bored. But this last twist had him on his toes. "You are saying your real name is Amanda Clarke or is nót Amanda Clarke?".

Amanda looked down. She was adamant on not telling any more lies, but she also did not want to reveal anything Emily could get in trouble with. "I am saying that my name is Amanda Clarke, but I got that name at the age of twenty." Jack grabbed her arms with both hands and shook her a little, raising his voice "Who are you, and where is the real Amanda?" Amanda shied away from him, he was furious. Immediately he gathered himself, let go and turned away. His hands ran through his hair in despair. Amanda touched his shoulder, but he backed away and turned to face her again. "Please, tell me, where is the real Amanda?" His eyes still hard in his anger. Amanda thought he had the right to be angry, every right. But still she was not about to tell him who Emily really was, so she told him "The real Amanda is not here, you have to talk to me I'm afraid." He turned away from her again, not being able to look at her. How was this possible? In what freak show had he ended up? Amanda felt she had said all that she could say. The rest was up to Emily. "Jack, I know this is much to take in. Please believe me when I say that I never meant to lead you on. I am going back to Carl now, you have to get back to the bar. Will I see you later?" Jack was blown away and just nodded to her. He heard her leaving, but could not bare to look at her. Tied up as he was in thoughts of his own. He now understood why he never felt close to her as he would have imagined to feel all those years she was absent. In a way, a weight was lifted from his shoulders. But on the other hand he was so, so angry at her. Letting him believe she was the girl from his past. Taking advantage of his sentiment toward the real Amanda Clarke. He finally turned to head to the Stowaway, but not after first hitting the beam supporting the roof with his fist, leaving it bloodied ...

Two weeks since Amanda left. Two weeks without Carl. Jack was slowly losing his mind. Off course he had tried to find them, but no luck. All Amanda did was leave a note saying she had to go because of the file Mason Treadwell had on her. Emily said she left a simular note for her at the beachhouse. And Jack just felt left in the cold. His life spiralling out of control, and he could only watch. As a ghost looking down on his own life.

And then there was Declan and his stupid move of robbing houses and the Stowaway almost not opening this season. Life got in the way, big time! Jack had been at Emily's place once or twice. But the place reminded him too much of past things. Amanda, Sammy, Baby Carl and off course Emily herself.

Emily sat on the porch, looking out to sea. She had just received a postcard from Amanda. Saying the both of them were fine. Emily wished she could believe it. Amanda was supposed to go to Emily's ranch in Houston, Texas. The housekeeper made everything in order to receive guests, but noone showed. At Emily's request, they even made a nursery for baby Carl. She was worried. The postcard was send from one part of the States, but stamped in another part. Amanda always had known ways to vanish. And it looked like she did it again. Emily spoke to Jack a couple of times, but he would not come round any more and she figured he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. It was easier in one way, because still lying to him was heavy on her mind. But she missed him, and she missed his smile. She missed his warmth and she missed the sense of belonging. On the other hand, she still had not made a plan on how to tell him. And postponing it, was not making it easier. She heard someone coming up the steps and looked up.

Jack stepped on the porch and saw Emily sitting in the swing, enjoying the sun of the late summer. He walked up to her, smiled at her and she saw his sorrow through his smile. He sat down next to her, picking up the card that was laying there. "See you got one too?" Emily nodded and looked out over the beach again. "I'm glad she says she's okay. I just miss them and I worry about them. The card is from one end of the country, the stamp from another. She is disappearing and she's good at it." Jack rubbed his thumb over the written text, as if to bring it to life. "Is there any where we haven't looked? Anything we might have missed?" He looked at Emily, hoping, against his better judgment. "No, still no arrival at my Houston ranchhouse, and I have no idea where to look further. I am so sorry Jack." Jack turned towards Emily and touched her arm "You have nothing to be sorry for, you did the best you could." Emily let out a short "Ha" and then looked away from him "You'd think, but no, that's not true. I'll tell you, one day."

Kenny went ballistic! After Jack confronted him with the medication he found, Kenny turned into an aggression spree. First he took to the bar. Destroying chairs, throwing bottles around and taking a crowbar to the windows and walls. Jack kept trying to calm him down. "Kenny, please, stop this. We can work together, but we will need a functioning Stowaway to do so." Kenny could only yell at Jack "You have it all! I hate you, I hate the Stowaway! Get out! Leave me! I'll take this place down, like it should !" Off course, Jack could not leave his beloved Stowaway and when he realized there was no way in making Kenny stop, he resorted to physical intervention. He grabbed Kenny by the shoulders when he walked past Jack to take the crowbar to the mirror on the other end of the wall. Jack, obviously not knowing how strong a psychotic man without his medication could be, just made a huge mistake. Kenny turned around with the speed of lightning. Unexpected, so Jack stumbled and fell to his knees. Immediately Kenny raised the iron in his hands and hit down on Jack, hard! Jack was now on hands and knees, struggling to get up. He managed to tackle Kenny and make him loose his balance. Jack swiftly got up, but then realized he could not use his one arm. He swung at Kenny with the other arm, but Kenny was already recovered and blocked Jack's blow, recountering with yet another slam with the crowbar. Kenny lost grip of the metal when it hit Jack and he immediately turned round and grabbed hold of two bottles. One of them already broken, the other he hit over Jack's head, breaking it. As a last resort, Jack tries to get up, holding on to the wall and chair in front of him. Kenny is fully into his psychoses and stabs Jack twice with the broken bottle. Jack sinks to his knees before falling to the floor. Unconscious, but will he survive. Kenny continues to trash the place, while Jack's lying there in a increasingly growing pool of his own blood.

Emily gets a call, unknown caller ID. She picks up: "Hello?" a voice on the other end of the line whispers "Emily? Please, can you come to the Stowaway? Please bring help, I don't know how long I can keep him hidden …" She heard a desperate Declan on the other end of the line. Immediately her brain went to hyper-mode. "Where are you? What is wrong, what can I do?" It took a few seconds before Declan answered, again in a whisper "We are in the back supplyroom, Jack is seriously hurt. He needs medical attention, can you please dial 911 and get help?" "Declan? DECLAN!?" But he already hung up. She ran to her car and jumped in. While driving, like a lunatic, she called Nolan and told him she was going to the Stowaway and that Nolan had to call for help if she didn't get back to him in ten minutes. She didn't have to explain to Nolan she had no faith in the authorities solving problems. She checked her purse, damn, forgotten the gun. No time to get back, go … GO!

At the stowaway, she left her car on the pavement and ran to the entrance, big first aid trunk in her hands. She had the good sense to check if the coast were clear, which it was. When she saw the big pool of blood staining the floor, her stomach turned over. She ran to the far end of the bar, yanking the door open of the supply room. And there she found Declan in tears and Jack in his arms, covered in blood and still unconscious. Her heart skipped as she reached for her phone to call Nolan and an ambulance. First Nolan, who immediately did the same thing as Emily, run to his car to drive up to town. Than, as she was about to call the ambulance, her phone was ripped from her fingers. She looked up in horror in the stone dead eyes of Kenny Ryan. He gave Emily a push and locked her in the storage room together with Declan and Jack.

Emily, as always, was incapable to stand by and do nothing. She looked around the storageroom to check for usefull materials. She told Declan to get the bubblewrap from the top shelf and wrap Jacks abdomen and leg. "Tight! We need to stop the bleeding as good as we can." In the meantime Emily tried to clean the wounds with alcohol and put some bandage on it. While Declan was wrapping the bubbleplastic round Jack, Emily was cleaning the cuts on his face. Jack came to and moaned in pain. He looked up drousily at Emily and Declan. Not being able to focus correctly. Declan tried to keep him as calm as possible while Emily continued to clean him up and wrap him tight. While she was hovering over him to get the bandages fastened, he looked at her and murmerred "Amanda?" Emily looked at him, lying in Declans arms and could not bare to lie to him. She looked away and finished up. Jack continued to try and catch her eye. As soon as he did, he lifted his good arm to touch her and again whispered "Amanda, is that you?" Declan felt that Emily was getting uneasy, off course, he did not know why. So he intervened and started "Jack, come on man, you just got seriously hurt. Please, try and relax." But Emily touched Declans arm and looked at him to silence him. She looked Jack in the eye and nodded, "Yes Jack, I'm here. Please stay strong." Jack looked up in her eyes and the tension in his muscles relaxed. Declan just sat there and looked from one to the other. He knew this was something major, but did not grasp the message of the words Emily spoke. When Emily saw Jack relax a little, she continued to talk to him, soothing his ache with her voice. "It's me, I'm finally home. Please forgive me my dishonesty all this time. But please, for now, focus on getting better." And in order to set his mind to happier times, she began telling stories about the time they were happy children playing on the beach in the sun.

Cut to the hospital


End file.
